


One scientist down

by Semitura



Category: Dr. STONE (Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Death, GET READY TO CRY FELLAS, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Live writting, Not Beta Read, Revenge, Survivor Guilt, honey you've got a big storm comming, no beta we die like Chrome, rated T for tears
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-17 19:01:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29476650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Semitura/pseuds/Semitura
Summary: What if Tsukasa never gave an order to Ukyo to stop Chrome's fall?
Relationships: Chrome/Ishigami Senkuu, Chrome/Ruri (Dr. STONE)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	One scientist down

"Just throw me down there already" Chrome smirks, challenging Hyoga.

"If you insist" Hyoga gladly throws Chrome out into the watery void.

The brunette falls into the water bellow, Tsukasa hesitates for a minute. Should he stop this? Should he save the boy?

 _"No,"_ he thinks. Why would he save a scientist? He would bait Senku into his empire while he thinks the brunette is still alive and then drop the news to him. That would make him fall, that would make him weak, that would mean victory. So he turns around as he waits.

And suddenly, Ukyo hears it. The sound of a body hitting the water with force. He is shaking. Tsukasa and Hyoga...they really didn't hesitate in killing this stranger. This stranger that claimed to be a scientist. This stranger that looked to death with a smile on his face, not a single regret filling his mind.

"...Tsukasa, he..." Ukyo begins to say, trying to hold back the urge to vomit.

"I know," Tsukasa says. "Senku's grave can be his. Now let's go" Tsukasa doesn't look behind, nor does he want to. The deed was done.

* * *

  
Suika makes it to the Tsukasa empire, in the vain hope to find Chrome imprisoned, but he doesn't find the boy anywhere. Where could he be?  
With no sign of the boy, she returns to camp with empty hands.

"I went to the Tsukasa empire, but Chrome wasn't there..." Suika says with a sad look on her face.

"He must be hidden deep inside it. As a valuable hostage, I bet Tsukasa wouldn't let him out in the open" Senku theorises. But he's got this feeling, this awful feeling. Tsukasa could easily...no, he wouldn't...  
 _Would he?_

The Kingdom of Science makes their way to the Tsukasa empire, but they are stopped by a silver-haired boy wearing yellow clothes and raising a white flag.

 **"WAIT!** " The stranger shouts.

"...It's Ukyo..." Gen quickly recognises the boy, as the archer leaves his arrows and bow in the ground.

"Please...stop" Ukyo begs with tears in his eyes, grasping the white flag in his hands. The white flag Chrome made using one of Ukyo's arrows and his own underwear. "It's a trap, he only wants to lure you into the empire. If you go there, then..." Ukyo's voice cuts out as he begins to cry. "Please...I don't want to see anyone else die..."

Everyone freezes and Senku's mind stops working for a second.

"...What happened to Chrome?" Senku asks, in a dead-calm tone.

"...He's dead" Ukyo admits. "We threw him off a cliff. I could spot where his body could be from the sound he made when he went into the water if you don't believe me"

Some of them are shocked, some of them deny Ukyo's words, others begin to cry at the statement. But Senku...Senku stays there, _frozen_.

"...Show us the way then, archer" Senku says. He wouldn't mourn Chrome's death before the found a body, and of course, he couldn't start until the war was done.

Ukyo nods and guides them in complete silence to the end of the cascade. They leave the Steam Gorilla behind as they approach the place.

Senku won't forget what he saw on the river shore that day.

Chrome's body was upside down, colouring the water around him red with his blood. His body was already pale, filled with deep skin cuts and bruises. You could see some of his broken bones as they peaked outside of his body. His clothes were ripped and the _harimaki_ around his hair was nowhere to be found.

With an agonising scream that shook the whole team up, Ruri approached the body as she ran towards it. The blonde turned the boy around, seeing his bruised face. The boy had his eyes shut, probably to embrace himself to take the impact of the fall with hopes of survival, but as soon as Ruri touched the body, she knew that the sorcerer was gone from this world.

_Chrome was dead._

Ruri embraced the body, crying as she called for the boy, but nobody was there to answer.

"...why," Senku asked. "Why did you tell us?" Senku turned to Ukyo. His voice and face seemed neutral, as if something inside him had broken down.

"...I didn't want him to die...I promise!" Ukyo cried "I wanted a bloodless war...I wanted everyone to survive..." Ukyo began to cry. He couldn't save the brunette. He could, but he _didn't_.

Senku approaches Ruri and takes the first look at Chrome's face. He looks peaceful, like he died without an inch of regret in his body.

"Ruri... Sorry for not keeping your promise of a bloodless war, but I promise...no, I swear nobody else will die" Senku clenches his first with utter _rage_. He won't let that whoever killed Chrome get away so easily.

"Who threw him out of the cliff, Ukyo?" Senku asks.

"...Hyoga, Tsukasa's right-hand man" Ukyo answers.

At the name, Senku takes a deep breath. He had a target, then. He _would make Hyoga pay for this._

"Senku...please don't" Ruri begs. "I know he took Chrome's life, but if we kill him, then we'll begin a cycle with no end. A cycle of death and suffering..."

"I told you, haven't I?" Senku says with determination. "No more death. No more blood. For Chrome"

Ruri nods with a small smile on her face "Yes...for Chrome"

"Ruri-chan, they say that if you cry for the dead, it will make them sad, so you could try smiling for Chrome-chan~" Gen tunes in, looking at the blonde girl.

"Yes...you're right, Gen-kun. What should we do with his body?" Ruri asks.

"We'll bury him after the war. For now, bring him inside the Steam Gorilla." Senku decides.

* * *

"Hey, Tsukasa" Senku greets the man, as if nothing had happened.

"...Senku" Tsukasa calls. 

"I already know, so you can drop the act." 

"...know what?"

"Ukyo told us. Turns out you had another traitor in your team besides Gen. Hilarious, right? You killed him." Senku looks at Tsukasa with rage in his eyes. It shocks Tsukasa to see Senku showing that much emotion. 

"Mh. Thought it would weaken you up, but it's only made you stronger. I'm impressed, Senku" Tsukasa smiles.

"Yeah...now let's talk" Senku smirks. "About your sister..."

* * *

Turns out there's not two, but _three_ traitors in the Tsukasa empire.

Hyoga had just attacked Mirai, with Tsukasa getting in the way. Senku felt a sense of karma in the action.

And not long after that, here he goes, trying to save Tsukasa. After all, Tsukasa wasn't the problem here. The problem was Hyoga, _Chrome's murderer._

"Have you heard of karma, Hyoga? It states that you shall receive what you give. You killed my best friend, but I'm not gonna kill you" Senku mutters after standing out. "I'm gonna defeat you using just my fingertip"

* * *

  
After Hyoga is defeated and everything is done, everyone returns to the village with the heavy news about Chrome.

"Senku...if you would like, we can bury him next to the founders" Ruri suggests.

"...yeah, that old man would love some company" Senku accepts.

The entire village seems to be present at the funeral. For someone who had lived the majority of his life away from the village as a strange sorcerer, Senku's arrival had made him part of the village, part of everyone's life.

They bury him next to Byakuya's tomb, with a tombstone with _"Cr"_ carved on it. Senku knew that the villager's tombs only had a small symbol on them and not their name, so he had decided for Chrome's tomb to have his atomic name on it.

"He would have loved it" Gen agreed upon deciding the text.

Senku waits until everyone is gone to finally crumble down in a crying mess, grabbing the tombstone in front like he had nothing else for him to support his body on. He spends some time there, nothing but cries and calls to his diseased friend and father.

_They were both gone forever._

Chrome was gone, he wouldn't hear him screaming _"That's bad!"_ anymore, he wouldn't hear him ask endless questions about the modern world, he wouldn't help him in future scientific projects, he wouldn't live to explore the whole wide world, he wouldn't be there when Senku finally made it to space.

With a blink of an eye, Chrome's life had vanished.

The only victim in this Stone War.

"It should have been me...I started this..." Senku blames himself. How couldn't he? If it wasn't for this stupid, stupid war Chrome would be there, asking what they were gonna do next.

"No" Senku wipes his tears "You decided to fight by my side. I shouldn't blame myself for your death, but still..."

Still... _why did he feel so awful?_

"Hey, old man...take care of him for me, will ya?" Senku smiles at the twin tombs and parts away.

Senku makes it to the village with everyone else. The next move was...sailing trough the whole world. And he had to do it without the best explorer he ever knew in his team.

Senku sights, knowing that nobody would be able to replace Chrome.

But he did know someone that could be useful for this mission...

* * *

  
After making hot air balloons, the third seat is awarded to Kohaku.

" **OOOOH!** We're so close to the sky!!" The blonde girl shouts, completely amazed by the view. "It kind of feels like...we're closer to Chrome..." she adds with nostalgia.

"Chrome?" Ryusui asks. He had heard the name once or twice, but he never dared to ask about it before.

"...an old friend. He died in the war against Tsukasa," Senku explains.

"Oh...sorry for your loss" Ryusui takes out his hat as he pays his respects.

"...he would have loved this" Kohaku mentions.

"...yeah" Senku looks up to the sky. Maybe he missed the boy more than he let everyone else know...

* * *

  
When Senku gets shot, he can only think of one name, one person: Chrome.

Shit, if the scientist was still alive they could capture Xeno easily with him making a drill.

But Chrome was gone, and he just got shot.

There was nobody else, nobody that could pull the plan out. How could they capture Xeno? Were they...gonna lose? _No_ , Senku wasn't gonna give up. _For Chrome._

Eventually, thanks to Tsukasa, they do indeed make a tunnel to capture Xeno. Senku twitches an eyebrow when he hears the strongest primate say that Hyoga did help pull the plan out.

Yeah, that's right...Senku was now working alongside his best friend's murderer.

They hadn't talked about it, not there was any need. As long as they cooperated, there was no need in bringing someone who was dead in the conversation.

* * *

When Senku is pinpointing the Medusa location, he is making soap bubbles to help with the model. Soap bubbles...just like the day Senku met Chrome.

"Hey Chrome, remember-" Senku lifts his head just to see Xeno instead of the brunette.

"...Who?" Xeno asks, very confused.

"...forget about it" Senku dismisses.

The scientist _duo_ keeps working.

Senku knows that the brunette won't leave his mind, no matter how much he tries.

"You know?" Xeno insists "They say that someone doesn't die until they are forgotten."

Senku's eyes light up at his mentor's words. He was right. As long as Chrome was inside his heart and mind, he would live on.

"...nature does not have heart or mind..." Senku remembers the brunette's words when they went to collect the sulfuric acid "...but we do, and that's how we're able to overcome anything" he changes the last phase.

With his mind and heart...he will make sure Chrome would live on.


End file.
